Air Force’s acting CTO officially assumes permanent position

The U.S. Air Force’s acting chief technology officer announced on Wednesday that the military branch has made his promotion official after having served in the temporary role since last year. 

In a LinkedIn post, Scott Heitmann said he was “both humbled and excited” to share his new status. Heitmann had been serving in an acting capacity since former Air Force CTO Jay Bondi left the branch in October. Prior to Bondi’s departure, Heitmann was the Air Force’s deputy CTO.

The Air Force’s biography for Heitmann — which had not been updated to reflect his promotion at the time of publication — said he had taken a leading role in the branch’s cybersecurity and modernization efforts, including laying the groundwork for its adoption of zero trust and implementing a device direct-patching initiative that “saved the Air Force 220k Man-Days and $20M in annual contract costs.” 

Heitmann was also one of the 2023 recipients of the Federal 100 awards, which annually recognize individuals across the federal IT community who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to enhance public services. At the time of his award, Heitmann was serving as CTO of the Air Force’s Cyberspace Capabilities Center.

Heitmann was recognized for the Fed 100 honor, in part, for dramatically transforming “how the Air Force updates computers with remote patching and automation.” 

“He also updated nearly half a million computers to run the latest version of Microsoft Office in less than 10 days,” his award profile said. “And with the White House’s blessing, Heitmann reduced the Air Force’s security policies by 97% to a few dozen that can be managed via the cloud, improving device security overall.”